Part 5: The Philippines Travelogue
The Best Part of this Adventure and Some Final Thoughts
Greetings from Tennessee!
I have been back in my home in the woods of Middle Tennessee for over a week now, and I have had time to think about my experiences in the Motherland during my stay. The mountain vistas and coastal cities I visited and all the flavorful food I devoured were all incredible, but the best part of this trip was spending time with my family. I had not seen my older brother Glenn in 34 years and had not met his two sons until this trip.
I spent a lot of time with their partners. My brother’s wife Elsie took me to the village market to help her find food to cook for our meals and also guided me on a long morning walk through town to show me around. I helped put together three large jigsaw puzzles with my nephew Mark’s partner Annie, and my nephew Marvin’s partner, Joanne, was my unofficial photographer throughout this adventure.
We laughed a lot and played card games. They cooked delicious food for us every day. We were treated with love, kindness, and a generosity of spirit. I hope I get to see all of them again along this winding, unpredictable path we call life.
I learned some interesting tidbits on this trip that are worth sharing:
I do not know if this applies to any other country, but in the Philippines, using larger bills when trading dollars for pesos will get you the highest exchange rate. Fifty- and one-hundred dollar bills were more favorable than using fives and tens, for example.
Make sure you have filled out any relevant immigration forms before your trip. When we arrived, I spent a tedious hour filling out a clunky online form on my cell phone for my mom, her husband, and me. No one, not our relatives or our travel agent, told us about this. This could have easily been addressed long earlier.
It is worth it knowing how to say simple phrases in a foreign language like “Thank you” and “Where is the bathroom?” But be careful with who you ask about translations. Some folks will be inclined to teach you bad words instead without you knowing it.
In the Philippines, a public bathroom is called a C.R. This stands for “Comfort Room.”
There is a small village about five miles from where we stayed called R.C.1. I asked around, but no one seemed to know what “R.C.” stands for. There are also no towns named R.C.2 or R.C.3.
Now, I would like to take a minute to admire the Koreans.
Yes, the Koreans.
I discovered, to my delight, that they, if you pardon my French, do not fuck around. Not only was my experience as a passenger on Korean Air very smooth and pleasant (They fed us SO MUCH FOOD!), but their international airport in Seoul was impressive!
They had whimsical play areas for kids . . .
Prayer rooms in which shoes cannot be worn . . .
Gloriously weird abstract art . . .
And of course, an expansive architectural design and aesthetic . . .
Yes, Koreans do not fuck around, and I was loving it. Maybe I will stay for more than just a layover some day.
Lastly, I have some final thoughts about my motherland. Travel brochures will brag about gorgeous sandy beaches and several modern luxury resorts. You will see photos of pristine streets and fun nightlife. What you do not see in these brochures is what exists daily throughout the country. Most Filipinos are not wealthy by American standards and do not live as such. In fact, what folks would call slums in the U.S. is more like the norm—lots of small old homes squashed together and built with random parts. This exists everywhere.
People say, disparagingly or otherwise, that the Philippines is a third world country. I would say it is a developing country. At this point, it has only been less than a century since it was granted independence from the U.S. after a combined total of 400 years of being colonized and plundered by foreign countries. The Philippines (which was named after a Spanish king by the way) is still finding its own identity and may take 400 more years to do so.
In the last 20 years, major infrastructure projects have only just begun. A highway stretching across the main island of Luzon now exists in place of a wayward combination of country roads to get from one end to the other. This development might seem hopeful, but to my disappointment, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s franchises were popping up along its rest areas and gas stations.
Because really, why should a KFC exist among farms and villages in an archipelago in Asia? It appears that multinational corporations see opportunities in a developing place like this. I hope the powers that be in the motherland have the wherewithal to fight these aggressive institutions and to develop more of its own homegrown businesses.
Now that I am back inside the bubble of the United States, I long for the people, flavors, sights, and sounds of the place my ancestors called home. I hope I can make it back to my motherland someday.
Until then and forever more, she has my allegiance.
She has my love.
